Hinchliffe/MacDonald superfight leaves KotC a problem going forward

Nick Hinchliffe is a big guy. He’s fought in the light heavyweight range before, he’s been a King of the Cage champion, and he recently put an ass-kicking to Dan Chambers that was so one-sided, Global TV used the footage as background for a withering attack on the sport.

Hinchliffe normally settles in around middleweight the level with a 185lb cut-off. On September 25, he sidled up to King of the Cage lightweight (155lb) champ Rory MacDonald, cutting weight to meet him at welterweight.

Should have been a big advantage for Hinchliffe, right?

Only MacDonald dropped him with a vicious right hook, continuing his undefeated run at 9-0 and cementing his claim as one of Canada’s most promising fighters.

Ironically, considering this piece of matchmaking was a primo example of giving the fans a top flight main event rather than programming for hometown wins, the Hinchliffe/MacDonald war may see both of them removed from KotC main event status.

For MacDonald, it’s clear that if he can beat up a moose like Hinchliffe there’s nobody in the lightweight division who can touch him. For that matter, it’s clear few in the welterweight division could touch him. Heck, it would appear he can handle himself in the middleweight class too, if it comes to it.

So obviously MacDonald’s people are going to push him to a bigger stage, and at the age of 20, he’ll be an attractive snare to a UFC, Strikeforce or WEC. Either way, he’s not long for the KotC brand.

And for Hinchliffe, this result puts another dent in his hopes of a UFC run. You simply can’t get a UFC offer without a string of recent wins behind you, with at least one of those coming over someone on their radar. It’s possible MacDonald was on that radar, which might explain why Hinchliffe took the fight, but otherwise he was on a hiding to nothing.

If Hinchliffe had won, people would say it was a size mismatch. In losing to a smaller guy, now they’ll say he doesn’t have the goods to move to the next level.

One great match, a piece of bold programing, and it’s done more damage to KotC than it has done good. And that’s a shame, because you simply don’t see many superfights like this at the regional level, and when they do happen, they should benefit the promotion more than this one will.

King of the Cage is planning an event in Vernon on November 28 at the Wesbild Centre.